Understanding Research

Finding Books

Finding Articles

Intro to articles
Databases
Article citations
Scholarly articles
Obtaining articles

What is a Research Database?

Research databases are the online tools you should use to search for articles on your topic. These databases include information about articles that have been published in journals, magazines, and newspapers.

Some research databases even provide access to book reviews, film reviews, dramas, financial reports, and many other sources of information.

Many of the articles listed in the databases are available in full-text format. Full-text means the entire text of the article is available online. You can read, print, or email the article directly from the computer.

Should I Use Research Databases or the World Wide Web?

Research databases are the best place to find articles and many other types of scholarly or professional information on your topic.

First, you won't find articles from most newspapers, journals, or magazines on the World Wide Web. Here's why:

• The articles you are looking for are not free

• Libraries subscribe and pay for publications such as journals, magazines, and newspapers that contain articles. The library also pays a fee for the databases.

• The publishing companies that produce these journals and databases need to make a profit and, therefore, do not publish their articles on the Internet for free.

Second, research databases allow you to search for scholarly journal articles, which typically offer a high quality of information and research (more information in Scholarly Articles). Most of the hits you would find using a search engine would not be full-text scholarly information.

Third, research databases allow you to search more effectively for your information. In a database, you won't have 300,000 hits to sift through!

Next: How Do I Connect to a Research Database?